Musket Restoration -- Need help IDing

Jericho

Jericho

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Ok, this is my first musket. Belonged to my grandfather and was rotting in an old shed for quite some time. Wood is fair at best, and it's covered in rust. Not totally disfiguring but I'm glad I got it when I did. The only markings on this thing are the letters "P E N C E R" with the possibility of S behind the hammer. Hammer isn't freed up yet so I can't really say. Standing up in height it's about 6 feet tall from the butt on the floor to the tip of the barrel. Anyone able to help ID the time period for this thing? I'll try to get pics up soon, but I couldn't find anything on spencer muskets.

Oh, and does anyone have a decent suggestion as to polishing the inside of the barrel? I only want to return this to wall hanger status but I'd like to remove as much rust as possible.
 
Well, after a few minutes, I cleaned it up a bit. On the side, it does infact say SPENCER and it looks like this -> SPENCER <- With arrows pointing in that directon on either side.
 
I have no idea what sort of gun this is - photos would be nice - but you want to be cautious about what you do to it. Even if it looks bad, it is still possible to do harm.
 
I will have pics up tonight hopefully. It isn't one of the spencer repeating rifles.. which is all I can dig up on google. It's not in very good shape, but I've restored firearms in the past and I'm confident I can restore this one... I just would like to know some background on it. IE Where it was manufactured and how old it is.
 
There was a british spencer @ 1800; I have a converted flintlock made by him. I would suggest a photo of the lock so that we can see if it is a converted flintlock or originally made as a percussion. Also you should look for proof marks and if you have had the barrel out of the stock, these may be under the barrel near the breach. As Tiriaq said, without photos we would be guessing wildly. As an example I was asked about a matchlock recently; photos revealed it to be a percussion gun missing the hammer.

cheers mooncoon
 
I do apologize for my lack of knowledge in this department. If it isn't 'modern', then I don't really know a whole lot about it. I'm still working on the pictures for you. Getting the wood off is going to be a real pain but I'm working on it. I'm interested to see what exactly I have.
 
The wet on the metal is some rustcheck I sprayed to try to loosen things up, forgot to wipe some off :p

Hopefully this can help.

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(Geocities is down at the moment)

http://www.geocities.com/morbid_skull/den/8.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/morbid_skull/den/9.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/morbid_skull/den/10.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/morbid_skull/den/11.JPG
 
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Rough shape, I know. Regardless, she deserves better. I took off 2 barrel bands, both were made of brass, one having a front sight on top of it. Trigger guard is nowhere to be found (yet) and the trigger appears to be broken off almost completely. Shame.

I'll be workin on it regardless. Got a nice spot for it to hang in the den :p
 
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Interesting. The lock was originally flint. I like the canvas buttpad. Lock secured with three screws?
Brass bands as you have described are often European. "(S)PENCER" doesn't sound continental, though.
The hole through the stock is something I have seen on Newfoundland sealing/waterfowling guns. A line was worked through and used to secure the gun in a dory.
 
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Just wish I could find out more about it.. I'll have to call up Pop and see, but he'll only be able to tell me who gave it to him and where it was used... I'd like to find out how old it actually is and where it was produced. I'm guessing pre 1900's?
 
the brass bands are later additions; the barrel would have been pinned originally and I am guessing that the pins rusted through. The green stuff on top of the nipple bolster; would I be correct in guessing that it is brass. My gun has a bolster brazed during the conversion to percussion. I will have to check the lettering on my lock; if they are the same (mine does not have arrows) the gun was made as a flintlock possibly as early as 1800 - 1820 although there was another Spencer in the 1830s. Both were in southern England. My guess is that the conversion would have taken place sometime after 1830 and like Tiriaq, it would not surprise me if it was a Newfie sealing gun.
What bore is it? 12 guage is roughly .730, 10 guage is .750 and 8 guage is .835

cheers mooncoon
 
By coincidence I just read this last night. Great Britain after 1855 Board of Ordnance became War Dept. Obsolete arms like swords, muskets were sold out of service with 2 broad arrows faceing each other. it could be that is the meaning of those arrows, if they were stamped after that name on the lock. Or perhaps it was a government arm sold to the Spencer gunsmith.
 
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